Role of the ISG

Looking out for Northern Powergrid’s customers and stakeholders

The Independent Stakeholder Group (ISG) plays a key role in ensuring Northern Powergrid delivers on its commitments made in its 2023-2028 business plan.

The group independently scrutinises and challenges Northern Powergrid’s quality of engagement undertaken to ensure that customers’ needs and preferences are continually being reflected. It operates in an open and transparent way and will publish a report of its findings annually.

 

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Team Members

    • Chris Murray MBE
      Chair

      Chris’s expertise stems from over 45 years of experience in the UK Energy sector where his remits covered Customer and Employee Engagement, Network Operations, Asset Management, Change and Stakeholder Management, Health and Safety, Gas and Electricity Transmission, Gas Distribution, Regulation and Commercial. In addition to being a 3-time CEO Chris has over 25 years of Non-Executive experience and is currently Chairman at Water Resources South East. In addition he is a Trustee Board Member of the MS Society and the Leicestershire Hospice.

    • Graham Oakes

      Graham has a PhD in Satellite Image Processing and a background in tech, working with firms such as Cisco, Intel, Skype and Sony.  In 2013, he created Upside Energy, a tech platform for managing flexibility on the grid.  Upside raised £10m of funding and grew to 35 staff by the end of 2018, at which point Graham stood down to focus on enabling people to participate in the Energy Transition.  Upside was subsequently sold to Octopus Energy, where it now forms the basis for its KrakenFlex platform.  Graham now supports a number of EnergyTech startups and works on local and municipal energy projects across UK and EU.  He was a member of BEIS’ Engineering Standards Review and Ofgem’s Design Advisory Board for Half Hourly Settlement, and is currently a board member of FlexAssure, the ADE’s code of conduct for demand response aggregators.  His book Project Reviews, Assurance and Governance is published by Routledge.

    • Henri Murison

      Henri brings his expertise on the importance of electricity infrastructure and the transition to Net Zero in the wider economy to the ISG. Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, he works across the wider infrastructure agenda, education, skills and wider industrial policy to drive the agenda on how to close the North – South divide. He has led work on the role of decarbonisation in driving economic growth, specifically focused on energy sector. Previously, he advised a financial services business on their government and international regulation interest as well as having wider roles in the voluntary sector and as Cabinet Member for Quality of Life at Newcastle City Council.

    • Jenny Saunders OBE

      Jenny Saunders is an independent consultant with over 30 years working in the energy and charity sectors. Previously Chief Executive at National Energy Action, based in the North East but operational across the UK, Jenny is currently Chair of the Independent Stakeholder Group for NGN and has experience of Ofgem’s enhanced stakeholder engagement process for RIIO2. She was a member of the Government’s Fuel Poverty Committee from 2016 to 2022 and sat on the Advisory Group from 2018 to March 2023 to Innovate UK’s £200m PFER programme. Jenny is a Non-Executive Director of Affordable Warmth Solutions which delivers heating and energy efficiency programmes. She has previously sat on a number of energy industry stakeholder groups including Northern Powergrid’s Northern Inclusive Energy Group (former Social Issues Expert Group).

    • Mike Kay

      Mike worked at Electricity North West for 38 years, the last eight of which he was Engineering and IT Director. He chaired the Distribution Code Review Panel for over a decade , and was a member of the Grid Code Review Panel for eighteen years. Since leaving Electricity North West in 2015 he has worked as an independent consultant on a number of projects for the regulated electricity network industries in the UK and internationally. He is a member-elected trustee of the Electricity North West pension fund.

    • Jo Coleman OBE

      Jo Coleman has over 30 years’ experience in the energy industry, initially working in the oil and gas sector in Europe, the Middle East and Far East before returning to the UK in 2011 to focus on low carbon and the energy transition.  Jo is a non-executive director of the Low Carbon Contracts Company, Guernsey Electricity Ltd and the British Geological Survey as well as an Advisory Commissioner to DESNZ’s Clean Power 2030 Mission. She also Chairs Northern Powergrids Distribution System Operation Review Panel.

      Previous executive roles have included Strategy Director at the Energy Technologies Institute, Head of Whole Systems Analysis at the Energy Systems Catapult and Energy Transition Manager at Shell UK. She has also previously been an independent member of the Governments Net Zero Innovation Board, an Observer to the Board of Shell UK and sat on numerous industry and academic advisory boards.  Jo is an Ambassador for POWERful Women and the Clean Energy Ministerial’s Equality in Energy Transitions Initiative.  She is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IMechE and was awarded an OBE for services to the energy sector in 2018.

    • Melanie Taylor

      Award-winning former Chief Executive of retail energy supply challenger So Energy, Monica Collings played a pivotal role in the merger with ESB Energy in 2021. Before that, she led Vattenfall’s UK retailer, and has enjoyed a diverse career spanning markets such as retail home improvement, property, and automotive.

      Having transitioned from executive roles, Monica now enjoys a portfolio of non-executive and strategic board advisory roles including Chairing the boards at entech, Swarm and charge point operator Plug-N-Go, and serving on the boards of Dalcour Maclaren and Cornwall Insight. Monica is a fervent advocate for gender diversity in the workplace having served as the sole female Chief Executive leading a domestic retailer through the energy crisis, and delegate at the United Nations’ 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

    • Monica Collings

      Award-winning former Chief Executive of retail energy supply challenger So Energy, Monica Collings played a pivotal role in the merger with ESB Energy in 2021. Before that, she led Vattenfall’s UK retailer, and has enjoyed a diverse career spanning markets such as retail home improvement, property, and automotive.

      Having transitioned from executive roles, Monica now enjoys a portfolio of non-executive and strategic board advisory roles including Chairing the boards at entech, Swarm and charge point operator Plug-N-Go, and serving on the boards of Dalcour Maclaren and Cornwall Insight. Monica is a fervent advocate for gender diversity in the workplace having served as the sole female Chief Executive leading a domestic retailer through the energy crisis, and delegate at the United Nations’ 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Latest
News

Find out what’s been happening.

  • Jul 2024

    Independent Stakeholder Group annual report 2023-24

    Read More
  • May 2023

    The Customer Engagement Group has responded to Ofgem’s consultation on frameworks for future systems and network.

    Read More
  • May 2023

    The Customer Engagement Group has responded to Ofgem’s Consultation on the future of local energy institutions and governance

    Read More
  • Nov 2022

    Customer Engagement Group observe Northern Powergrid’s Storm Exercise

    Read More
  • Aug 2022

    Customer Engagement Group response to Ofgem’s Consultation on ED2 Draft Determinations

    Read More
  • Jan 2022

    Report of Customer Engagement Group on Northern Powergrid’s business plan

    Read More
  • Dec 2021

    Report on the November Customer Engagement Group Meeting

    Read More
  • Oct 2021

    Report on the September Customer Engagement Group Meeting

    Read More
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Downloadable Content

Documents & Downloads

Document Search & Filter

Independent Stakeholder Group – Register of Interests

Independent Stakeholder Group’s Register of Interests.

Updated: 14/11/2024 Download

Independent Stakeholder Group Quarterly Meeting – August 2024

A Summary note from the Q3 ISG held 30-August-2024.

Updated: 30/08/2024 Download

Independent Stakeholder Group annual report 2023-24

This report covers the work of Northern Powergrid’s Independent Stakeholder Group (ISG) from the beginning of 2023 until the end of March 2024.

Updated: 31/07/2024 Download

Independent Stakeholder Group – Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference for the ISG.

Updated: 12/06/2024 Download

Independent Stakeholder Group Quarterly Meeting – June 2024

A Summary note from the Q2 ISG held 07-June-2024.

Updated: 07/06/2024 Download

Independent Stakeholder Group Quarterly Meeting – April 2024

A Summary note from the Q1 ISG held 15-April-2024.

Updated: 15/04/2024 Download

Customer Engagement Group annual report 2022-23

This report covers the work of the independent Northern Powergrid Customer Engagement Group (CEG) from the beginning of 2022 until the end of March 2023.

Updated: 31/05/2023 Download

Report of Customer Engagement Group on Northern Powergrid’s business plan

Report of CEG on Northern Powergrid’s business plan.

Updated: 17/01/2022 Download

Customer Engagement Group meeting – November 2021

Report on CEG monthly meeting, November 2021 – focus on Northern Powergrid’s continued work on its final Business Plan, Stakeholder Engagement work, and our final report.

Updated: 14/12/2021 Download

Customer Engagement Group Meeting – September 2021

Report on CEG monthly meeting, September 2021 – focus on Northern Powergrid’s continued work on its final Business Plan, Environmental Emissions, and Stakeholder Engagement work.

Updated: 12/10/2021 Download

Customer Engagement Group Meeting – July 2021

Report on CEG monthly meeting, July 2021 – focus on draft business plan, Stakeholder Engagement work and Ofgem’s ‘minded to’ decisions on its Access and Forward Looking Charges Review.

Updated: 10/08/2021 Download

Customer Engagement Group – Second Interim Report

CEG Second Interim Report, providing a public record of the work of the group.

Updated: 03/08/2021 Download

Contact Us

Get in touch

If you would like to pose any questions to the ISG or find out more about how it’s helping to ensure Northern Powergrid’s future plans reflect the needs of the customers, stakeholders and the communities it serves, email ceg@northernpowergrid.com